Matthew C Frantz

Click to Download Portrait

LAFAYETTE, NC, US

U.S. Army

SSG, 1132D MP CO, 95TH MP BN, 18TH MP BDE, ROCKY MOUNT, NC

04/06/2008, BAGHDAD, IRAQ

Four soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division were killed when a roadside bomb exploded near their Humvee, the Army said Monday.

Staff Sergeant Rickey Scott, Sergeant Dennis J. Flanagan, Sergeant Clifton J. Yazzie and Specialist Matthew C. Frantz were killed in the attack Friday while patrolling near Hawijah, the Army said. All were members of the 1st Brigade Combat Team based at Fort Campbell.

Frantz, 23, of Lafayette, Ind., was a counterintelligence specialist assigned to 1st Special Troops Battalion. He joined the Army in March 2004 and arrived at Fort Campbell in March 2005.

Matthew C. Frantz’s fiancee, Amalia Cerbin, said Matt once told her a story about a three-hour conversation he had in Iraq with a man who spoke no English. Matt spoke only broken Arabic.

With Matt, you don’t have to say anything, Cerbin said. He can understand you even if you’re not saying it the right way.

Frantz entered the Marines after graduating from high school in 2001 but suffered a serious knee injury before completing basic training. Determined to stay, he took his appeal all the way to a general but lost.

He came home and worked as a salesman at a Best Buy store until his knee healed well enough for the Army to accept him. His military job in counter intelligence was perfect for him, according to loved ones.

He could walk into a room of 50 people he’d never seen before … and come out with 50 e-mail addresses and possibly as many friends, said his older brother, Christopher Frantz, who is in the Navy.

He also is survived by his parents, Marilyn and Jim.

Matthew’s portrait is also on Poster 8